I am surely not alone in noting with interest the angry response from around the Muslim world to Pope Benedict’s recent remarks about Islam and violence. I think that they protest too much. I think that they can see the justification for such comments. Even they can see that the continual and escalating violence around the world initiated by adherents of the Islamic faith engenders this belief. This makes them feel uncomfortable. It should. No one wants to hear the truth when it is said about themselves. Someone, anyone, could easily look at me and say, “You are too fat.” In exactly the same way that the little child says, “He has no clothes on.” When the Emperor parades through town in the nude, he is naked. The truth is the truth. I am fat. That is the ugly truth. The Muslim faith does teach and promote violence and murder against those of other faiths. That is the ugly truth. The truth also includes the fact that Muslim religious leaders have not been at the front in condemning violence against Christians and Jews. That is the ugly truth. For that, they should be condemned. The violence and murder needs to be condemned. That is the ugly truth. Instead what we see are Muslim religious leaders choosing to promote religious war, violence, and murder with angry comments, name calling, and incitements to riot and unrest. It is clear that the Muslim world is gearing and steering its population toward World War Three. Last year the new Pope challenged Muslim leaders to reject and publicly condemn "any connection between your faith and terrorism." That challenge was not accepted then. It is being rejected again, this year. I don’t think we have to go back to the 14th century to find justification for questioning the fascist political or religious actions of members of any religion. Murder now is more than enough. I am not Catholic, nor Orthodox. I am not of the Hebrew faith. I am uncertain as to which religion I should claim membership. I have carefully read the quotations of Emperor Paleologos by Pope Benedict as they appeared in the recent internet news, and to be frank, I am unsure that I really agree with the Emperor. I think there is ample evidence that violence and religion are extremely well connected. I do think that spreading a religion through violence is unreasonable. I think this because I do not want it to happen to me. I do not think that violence is incompatible with the nature of God. I do not think that violence is incompatible with the nature of the soul. Human beings are naturally violent. We are hard wired for violence and murder. That is why we have been doing these things joyously to each other for thousands of years. If we didn’t like it we would have stopped long ago. We use civil government to control violence and murder. Control means frustrated, pent up, unreleased capacity for both. Wars between governments are as common as dirt. Wars between governments are usually fought over such insane things as dirt. Wars are a kind of semi-controlled (semi-sane) violence. It is when religion gets mixed into the equation that the limitations, controls, and governors become broken and inoperable. That is because even the limitations of sanity are also removed. We are rapidly careening toward that chasm of World War again in a self-propelled cart that is moving ever faster. I wish that I believed that the steersmen were not blind, or blindfolded by their religion.
(c) Copyright 2006: George Wallace recently published a book on religion which lashes out at nearly all of the comfortable ideas about God, the trappings of organized religion, and the priesthood. His pithy comments and suggestions for a return to a God-centered personal religion will interest everyone. This article may be freely reprinted so long as all copyright attributions, and the full content of this resource box are included. www.OhGodIsThatYou.com
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